John Rivers, founder of 4 Rivers Smokehouse. The Winter Park eatery, which celebrates its year anniversary on Tuesday, has enjoyed phenomenal success. Another 4 Rivers is on the way, in Winter Garden. Rivers recently spoke with Orlando Sentinel reporter Sandra Pedicini.

CFB: So why are people so willing to stand in long lines for your food?

That is what has surprised me the most, the resiliency of the customers. When it's raining out, they're out there with umbrellas. When it's cold out, I remember last year, I had pictures — people were wrapped in parkas.

Everybody, every day almost, was telling me why we were going to fail. I'm not from this industry. Every expert: 'You're on the wrong side of the road.' 'It's too small.' 'People aren't going to wait in line.' 'There's too many barbecue places here.' Then when I told them my strategy — that we're going to lead with brisket and not the typical regional pork that everybody loves around here — I kind of heard over and over how barbecue is regional, it's going to fail because people aren't going to eat beef brisket.

My strategy was, if I just come out and say I've got a better pulled pork than everybody else, big deal. I'm just like everybody else.

This whole endeavor started as a ministry in 2004 and we dubbed it our barbecue ministry. As long as we keep that as our foundation, God will continue to bless us, which obviously has beyond anything we could even imagine. It's so different from anything else that's here. .... You come out and sit with people you don't know ... Inside, it's very different. I love to appeal to all the emotions. You've got hopefully very upbeat music playing. It's small by design.

CFB: Tell me about the second restaurant you'll open in Winter Garden. Will there be anything different there, anything you've learned from your Winter Park venture?

One, don't use a gas station to start with, or Just Brakes. It's an existing restaurant. It's a little bit larger, definitely a larger kitchen, which we certainly need. It will have indoor seating as well as outdoor. We'll have the line just like this. It will also have a drive-through. It also has … a bigger patio, twice as many seats and more parking. (Laughs) Top of the list, more parking.

CFB: Do you plan other 4 Rivers restaurants?

Yes. I want to have 24 locations ... around the country. We're going to go to cities I like to go travel – Chicago, Boston, places I like to visit and hang out. I want to go to places that aren't entrenched in barbecue.

CFB: Over what period of time?

No rush … When we find the right location and it feels right and I know that the [current] locations are under control. We're not going to franchise.

CFB: There is this persistent rumor that Chick-fil-A is buying 4 Rivers. Why is that? Any truth to it?

No. I became friends with (Chick-fil-A president) Dan Cathy, and he was a tremendous help and helped guide me in some of the decisions. He was doing one of his tours the week we opened. He was kind enough to come eat lunch here and bring his whole management team. I think that's where it all started from … but no, no, no. Dan and I are friends. I still get on the phone and call him for advice, and we share stories and that's the extent of it.

CFB: Your website talks about how your barbecue business got started as a fund-raiser for the family of a girl who had cancer. What happened to her?

She passed away. She went home to God. Before I put that story out, I asked her father [if he would mind]. They came back and they were so happy. They don't want anyone to forget Meghan, and this business perpetuates her memory.